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No Ordinary Family - They aren't ordinary

I ran a search and didn't see a thread for it, so I figured I'd make one.

Surely I'm not the only person enjoying this show?

So what is No Ordinary Family? Its a new super hero show on ABC in which a dysfunctional suburban family undergoes an unexplainable transformation while on family vacation and they all get super powers. Oh, and the mom is super hot. Like super. Hot.

It airs on Tuesday nights at 8/7c on ABC.

Lucascraft on October 2010

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I've watched the first three episodes and have been pretty underwhelmed. The special effects are pretty good for a TV show and the casting is good (I especially like Romany Falco and the guy from Seventh Heaven) but the acting just comes across pretty stilted. My biggest gripe is with the plot seeming to be pretty messy, ie

The episode where the mother has her ring stolen at the wedding. The criminals all walk away from the collar at the end of the episode, but one of them just happened to have that specific ring? On him? At the time of a different crime at a different place days later? Come on.

Yeah, this show could have a fun premise but they ruin it by burdening the proceedings with incredibly heavy-handed, forced emotional drama about the family's "problems."

HEY, HEY DID YOU GET THAT THE MOM WORKS A LOT, AND THAT THE DAD SORT OF HAS SOME ISSUES WITH CAREER FULFILLMENT? ALSO THE TEENAGE DAUGHTER IS A TEENAGE GIRL (LOL THEY CRAY-CRAY, AMIRITE AMERICA?), AND THE TEENAGE BOY IS DYSLEXIC (BUT NOT ANYMORE)? DID YOU GET ALL THESE THINGS? ARE YOU SURE? BECAUSE WE CAN MAKE SURE THAT 80% OF THE DIALOGUE MAKES MENTION OF THEM IN AN EXTREMELY UNNATURAL AND HAM-FISTED FASHION. YEAH LET'S DO THAT.

I mean it's sort of hilarious to have Julie Benz and Michael Chiklis play these characters with no actual flaws, but who have tons of forced and incredibly saccharine, (crudely) manipulative conflict about their pseudo-problems, compared to the characters those actors have played in the past.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: this show has awful writing. That's really all there is to it. The writing is grippingly bad.

It's an okay show so far (I already switched from The Event to it,) but it has two crucial problems so far. First is the lack of urgency. Rip on Heroes all you want, but the first season was spectacular, partially because you can tell it was going places. By episode 2 you knew that unless the good guys did something, New York gets nuked. Episode two of "Family" started showing an ominous Team Evil, but it hasn't gone anywhere since.

The second problem, and I can't stress this enough, is that one of the characters actually wants to be a superhero, is already running around as a vigilante, has his own sidekick and superhero base, and has not once even considered WEARING A COSTUME! Look, I get it. People make jokes about the capes and spandex and wearing underwear on the outside. Fine. But get SOMETHING! This is a series full of self-aware, genre savvy people who are capable of making intelligent decision. But costumes exist for a reason, and not just the very important need for an iconic image. For Lonny's sake, you already got caught or almost got caught like 12 times now! At least get a fucking mask.

EmperorSeth on October 2010

You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.

Those are problems I guess, but again, I really can't stress enough -- the characters are bland cut-outs with no believable conflict, who are milked for some ridiculously heavy-handed, poorly-executed emotional drama.

Until the last 5 minutes, I thought this episode was a decent improvement. It had actual superhero fights, it advanced the plot, it finished the "J.J. is pointlessly lying to his parents" plot. But the ending was ridiculous. I mean, is it "cheating" for the guys naturally built like a bulldozer to play? And what about class? Is it cheating to actually do well in tests?

EmperorSeth on October 2010

You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.

I've watched the first three episodes and have been pretty underwhelmed. The special effects are pretty good for a TV show and the casting is good (I especially like Romany Falco and the guy from Seventh Heaven) but the acting just comes across pretty stilted. My biggest gripe is with the plot seeming to be pretty messy, ie

The episode where the mother has her ring stolen at the wedding. The criminals all walk away from the collar at the end of the episode, but one of them just happened to have that specific ring? On him? At the time of a different crime at a different place days later? Come on.

It might go good places, we'll see.

Don't forget that the dad basically tosses a guy off a 10 story building and the guy survives.

"I just wish, I just wish you believe it too"...so terrible. I want this show to be good so bad. I would really appreciate a show about a superhero that isn't all angsty. It's one of the reasons the modern Iron Man, and the Incredables are so great, embracing their powers.

The show is getting better, certainly the acting by the mum
And the dad is improving as they get to know the roles but the writing is still awful and determined to obsess over trivialities. There is indeed conflict regarding the power of mind reading, but it's not anything you've presented so far. They just need an 'all superdad' episode to see if the show has real potential. Oh, and I concur that they should get at least some masks right away.